byhand - November 2002

Alphabet Tag Swap II

If you're interested the background of this swap click here to read what we did!

My scans just do not do justice to these tags! They are fabulous!

Charmaine Hamilton - did not want to do the usual rectangular tag - so decided on the oval shape. I had tons of fleece, so wanted to incorporate it. The rest was easy - I love the letter "U" but had not considered doing the 'play on words' until it was finished. The dyeing, carding and felting were easy, I had trouble with the concept of how to decorate it, plus I wanted the other players to understand which letter I had been designated. So I chose the metal charms (could not get 13 identical!) and added the envelope.

Marion Dodds
After ruminating on the letter V for a few weeks the word voluptuous came upon me in a flash of inspiration. It may have occurred in a fitness class when it dawned on me that "fat" needed to be reframed!!! I was immediately overwhelmed with a flow of voluptuous V words and decided to word process them for a background design for the back of the tags. Red seemed the "hottest" colour. The "juicy" torso fit the tag shape and I found some velvet in a rich gold.The cutout shape contained a curved v at the top and and inverted v at the crotch. Large chenille V's were glued to the fronts of the torsos and accented with french knots in appropriate "hot spots"! On vacation at Gibsons. I found a card of assorted yarns in rich reds, golds,silvers and greens which were coincidentally labelled "Victorian" so I snapped it up. These created "legs" for the tag;Then I added pretty beads of glass hearts and metallic gold flowers to weight them. Voila! Voluptuous V tags!!!

Marilyn Smitshoek
I started out with the idea of doing who, what, where, etc., but then I came across the stamp of the washing hanging on the line. I already had the little clothes pins, which I had used on some cards and decided to do the washing in Watercolors (another 'w') and to hang in on a line. I did the background with a sponge. I had been collecting W's and I used the stamp to write "washday" below and then decided the composition needed something more to finish it off, so I bought the birds. I had already planned to make it double sided and I had the wooden W's and the beads I had found as well. Then I had one of those "lying awake late at night" kind of flashes and decided to make waves (literally) and turn the wooden W's into little boats. Again I wanted it to look 3-D and I even had the idea of trying to make it so you could move the waves back and forth, but decided that was too complicated. I had enough beads to put two on each tag, so one went on the sail of the boat and the other on the tail of the tag.

Kim Sickler - For the "Y" tag, the "y" was difficult when just thinking about it. Suzanne also gave me another challenge....now, the alpha swappers know that I design some of my art quilts, she said, "quilt it"! Oh, no was my mind's first reaction. When the due date drew closer the only thought I had was yellow and "quilt". So.... yellow the tag was gonna be and the "quilt" part would just have to wait until later. I chose an exquisite yellow fabric with a glitz of gold metallic thread throughout the pattern. Fused that on the top of the tag and fused muslin to the back. I had purchased an old brass door plate earlier that day and the thought of metallic or rusted letters came to mind. So....I used an orange, gold, yellow patterned fabric that contrasted nicely with the background for a "y" stenciled plate for the tag focal point . Next, a "Y" patch was made using the letter Y from the Stampsmith's Floral Alphabet. Both of these items were also fused to the front of the tag. I embellished the rest of the tag with metallic gold flowers (jewelry separators) with beads for flower centers; yellow buttons, rick-rack and ribbon thread. Last but not least, I quilted the "y" stencil, patch and ribbon thread using a zig zag or blanket stitch; made a buttonhole for adding fibres to the top. The flowers, beads and buttons were sewn by hand.Yellow fibers were added to complete the art piece. Hope you all enjoyed this alpha swap. I enjoyed participating. Did I pass the "quilt" test for a tag?!
(ed. note - no kidding you passed!)

History Lesson

Here is the sixth installment of the information panels from my exhibition, Lines of Evolution....

Italic

When most people think of calligraphy, they think of Italic. Its elegant and flowing lines seduce the eye. To the calligrapher, it’s versatility is unparalleled. Although not the easiest hand for a beginner, it cannot be resisted.

After centuries of the rigid formality of the Gothic hands of the Middle Ages the Renaissance arrived, and the flourishing of the arts was reflected in the letterforms. The first Italic writing manual was published in 1522 by a Vatican scribe named Arrighi. The book was printed from wood blocks.

Italic readily adapted itself to a cursive handwriting style. It is the hand of Michelangelo and Raphael. During this time Gutenberg invented movable type, and the printed book came of age. The role of the professional scribe changed from the lettering of books to book decoration and teaching the hand to wealthy individuals. In Germany, type design was based on the Gothic hands and remained that way for several more centuries.

Italic is lettered at 5 pen widths and a 45 degree pen angle.

Swap update and New Challenge

History Lesson